it seemed to me, was waiting for me somewhere,

美妙的俄语口音似乎一直在某处等待着我
was flowering like a faithful springtime behind a tightly locked gate

就像在紧闭的门后努力盛开在春天的花儿一样
whose key I had held in safekeeping for so many years,

而那扇门的钥匙我已经保管了好多年
proved to be nonexistent.

最后才发现它是不存在的
And there is nothing behind the gate

门后面除了烧焦的树桩和无望的秋天
but charred stumps and a hopeless autumnal distance,

什么都没有
and the key in my hand is more like a skeleton key.

我手中的钥匙更像一把万能钥匙
So, there's a kind of lost paradise of European culture which he can't get back,

所以欧洲文化对他而言就像一座回不去的失乐园
even with this spectacular effort in English.

即使在英语上花再多的力气
So, that suggests that it's not all to the good;

它表明这不一定一切都是好事
it hasn't been saved by taking up these knight's move techniques,

采用跨越式手法这种特别的手法
the defamiliarizing techniques; there's still a record of damage.

起不到什么作用还是有某种损坏的记录